AURORA: A High Performance Software DAQ Framework for Next-Generation Rare-Event Search Experiments
arXiv:2604.17218 · doi:10.1016/j.nima.2026.171901
Abstract
The upcoming PandaX-xT experiment will deploy over 3,000 readout channels operating at a 500 MSa/s sampling rate, generating a sustained data bandwidth up to 1.6 GB/s. To meet this demanding requirement, we present AURORA, a high-performance, distributed data acquisition (DAQ) framework designed for scalability, low latency, and efficient resource utilization. Built on a modular architecture and leveraging modern I/O and networking technologies, including multi-level buffering, deferred and asynchronous processing, AURORA achieves a projected throughput of over 3 GB/s on the aggregation node in benchmark tests. While developed to support PandaX-xT, the framework is experiment-agnostic and readily adaptable to other large-scale particle and nuclear physics experiments.
17 pages, 6 figures and 2 tables, version accepted by NIMA